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The Lost Continent

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Length: 10 hrs and 12 mins

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439

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Hardly anyone ever leaves Des Moines, Iowa. But Bill Bryson did, and after 10 years in England he decided to go home, to a foreign country. In an ageing Chevrolet Chevette, he drove nearly 14,000 miles through 38 states to compile this hilarious and perceptive state-of-the-nation report on small-town America.

There are better Bill Bryson audiobooks

By
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on
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Bill Bryson's Appliance of Science

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By:
Bill Bryson

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Bill Bryson

Length: 2 hrs and 4 mins

Original Recording

Overall

23

Performance

21

Story

22

In this feast of invention and discovery, Bill Bryson, with the help of The Science Museum's curators, takes us object by object through some of the museum's less well known inventions and discoveries and the human stories behind them. Discover how a teenage inventor, a pig's head, a lump of plywood and a famous British record label made medical history or how some inventions simply happen by accident.

A poorly contrived idea with potential

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Neither Here nor There

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Length: 9 hrs and 9 mins

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228

Performance

187

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187

In Neither Here nor There Bill Bryson brings his unique brand of humour to bear on Europe as he shoulders his backpack, keeps a tight hold on his wallet, and journeys from Hammerfest, the northernmost town on the continent, to Istanbul on the cusp of Asia.

Authentic Bryson, but that might be the problem

By
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Made in America

By:
Bill Bryson

Narrated by:
William Roberts

Length: 18 hrs and 13 mins

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875

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719

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721

In Made in America, Bryson de-mythologizes his native land, explaining how a dusty hamlet with neither woods nor holly became Hollywood, how the Wild West wasn't won, why Americans say 'lootenant' and 'Toosday', how Americans were eating junk food long before the word itself was cooked up, as well as exposing the true origins of the G-string, the original $64,000 question, and Dr Kellogg of cornflakes fame.

Bryson Not Reading Makes For a Rare Fail

By
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Notes from a Small Island

By:
Bill Bryson

Narrated by:
Ron McLarty

Length: 12 hrs and 2 mins

Unabridged

Overall

95

Performance

85

Story

86

Grab your umbrella and join best-selling author Bill Bryson for a grand tour through the heartland of the United Kingdom. As he wanders through tiny villages and bustling cities, his irreverent travelogue will keep you laughing out loud and eager to explore what lies just around the next corner. Before he returns to the United States after nearly two decades on British soil, Bryson decides to take a farewell jaunt through his adopted homeland. But his plans to neatly traverse the island by foot, bus, and train are soon thwarted.

Appallingly badly read

By
Sharon
on
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Neither Here Nor There

Travels in Europe

By:
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Bill Bryson

Length: 5 hrs and 38 mins

Abridged

Overall

597

Performance

247

Story

244

You'll stop at Europe's most diverting and historic locales and view the Old World through Bryson's tourist eye view in this affectionate, blisteringly insightful, and riotously funny pilgrimage from the frozen wastes of Scandinavia to the chaotic tumult of Istanbul.

I wish he were my neighbour.

By
Heather
on
08-29-12

The Lost Continent

Travels In Small Town America

By:
Bill Bryson

Narrated by:
William Roberts

Length: 10 hrs and 12 mins

Unabridged

Overall

439

Performance

351

Story

351

Hardly anyone ever leaves Des Moines, Iowa. But Bill Bryson did, and after 10 years in England he decided to go home, to a foreign country. In an ageing Chevrolet Chevette, he drove nearly 14,000 miles through 38 states to compile this hilarious and perceptive state-of-the-nation report on small-town America.

There are better Bill Bryson audiobooks

By
Rachel
on
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Bill Bryson's Appliance of Science

An Audible Original

By:
Bill Bryson

Narrated by:
Bill Bryson

Length: 2 hrs and 4 mins

Original Recording

Overall

23

Performance

21

Story

22

In this feast of invention and discovery, Bill Bryson, with the help of The Science Museum's curators, takes us object by object through some of the museum's less well known inventions and discoveries and the human stories behind them. Discover how a teenage inventor, a pig's head, a lump of plywood and a famous British record label made medical history or how some inventions simply happen by accident.

A poorly contrived idea with potential

By
Allen H. Kelson
on
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Neither Here nor There

By:
Bill Bryson

Narrated by:
William Roberts

Length: 9 hrs and 9 mins

Unabridged

Overall

228

Performance

187

Story

187

In Neither Here nor There Bill Bryson brings his unique brand of humour to bear on Europe as he shoulders his backpack, keeps a tight hold on his wallet, and journeys from Hammerfest, the northernmost town on the continent, to Istanbul on the cusp of Asia.

Authentic Bryson, but that might be the problem

By
M. Craft
on
08-12-14

Made in America

By:
Bill Bryson

Narrated by:
William Roberts

Length: 18 hrs and 13 mins

Unabridged

Overall

875

Performance

719

Story

721

In Made in America, Bryson de-mythologizes his native land, explaining how a dusty hamlet with neither woods nor holly became Hollywood, how the Wild West wasn't won, why Americans say 'lootenant' and 'Toosday', how Americans were eating junk food long before the word itself was cooked up, as well as exposing the true origins of the G-string, the original $64,000 question, and Dr Kellogg of cornflakes fame.

Bryson Not Reading Makes For a Rare Fail

By
John
on
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Notes from a Small Island

By:
Bill Bryson

Narrated by:
Ron McLarty

Length: 12 hrs and 2 mins

Unabridged

Overall

95

Performance

85

Story

86

Grab your umbrella and join best-selling author Bill Bryson for a grand tour through the heartland of the United Kingdom. As he wanders through tiny villages and bustling cities, his irreverent travelogue will keep you laughing out loud and eager to explore what lies just around the next corner. Before he returns to the United States after nearly two decades on British soil, Bryson decides to take a farewell jaunt through his adopted homeland. But his plans to neatly traverse the island by foot, bus, and train are soon thwarted.

Appallingly badly read

By
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on
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Neither Here Nor There

Travels in Europe

By:
Bill Bryson

Narrated by:
Bill Bryson

Length: 5 hrs and 38 mins

Abridged

Overall

597

Performance

247

Story

244

You'll stop at Europe's most diverting and historic locales and view the Old World through Bryson's tourist eye view in this affectionate, blisteringly insightful, and riotously funny pilgrimage from the frozen wastes of Scandinavia to the chaotic tumult of Istanbul.

I wish he were my neighbour.

By
Heather
on
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In a Sunburned Country

By:
Bill Bryson

Narrated by:
Bill Bryson

Length: 11 hrs and 54 mins

Unabridged

Overall

3,859

Performance

2,261

Story

2,256

Every time Bill Bryson walks out the door, memorable travel literature threatens to break out. His previous excursion on the Appalachian Trail resulted in the best seller
A Walk in the Woods. Now, we follow him "Down Under" to Australia with this delectably funny, fact-filled, and adventurous performance that combines humor, wonder, and unflagging curiosity. More from Bill Bryson.

Laugh out loud funny

By
Larry
on
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The Road to Little Dribbling

Adventures of an American in Britain

By:
Bill Bryson

Narrated by:
Nathan Osgood

Length: 14 hrs and 4 mins

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Overall

1,144

Performance

1,041

Story

1,035

In 1995, Bill Bryson got into his car and took a weeks-long farewell motoring trip about England before moving his family back to the United States. The book about that trip,
Notes from a Small Island, is uproarious and endlessly endearing, one of the most acute and affectionate portrayals of England in all its glorious eccentricity ever written. Two decades later, he set out again to rediscover that country, and the result is
The Road to Little Dribbling.

No Bryson?? Alas, another disappointed fan

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The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid

By:
Bill Bryson

Narrated by:
Bill Bryson

Length: 7 hrs and 38 mins

Unabridged

Overall

1,653

Performance

841

Story

850

Bill Bryson was born in the middle of the American century, 1951, in the middle of the United States, Des Moines, Iowa, in the middle of the largest generation in American history, the baby boomers. As one of the best and funniest writers alive, his is perfectly positioned to mine his memories of a totally all-American childhood for 24-carat memoir gold. Like millions of his generational peers, Bill Bryson grew up with a rich fantasy life as a superhero.

Can't speak highly enough of this book

By
Marci
on
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At Home

A Short History of Private Life

By:
Bill Bryson

Narrated by:
Bill Bryson

Length: 16 hrs and 38 mins

Unabridged

Overall

4,385

Performance

2,934

Story

2,929

Bill Bryson and his family live in a Victorian parsonage in a part of England where nothing of any great significance has happened since the Romans decamped. Yet one day, he began to consider how very little he knew about the ordinary things of life as he found it in that comfortable home. To remedy this, he formed the idea of journeying about his house from room to room to “write a history of the world without leaving home.”

Another wonderful Bryson

By
Tina
on
10-23-10

A Walk in the Woods

Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail

By:
Bill Bryson

Narrated by:
Rob McQuay

Length: 9 hrs and 47 mins

Unabridged

Overall

4,993

Performance

4,485

Story

4,512

The Appalachian Trail trail stretches from Georgia to Maine and covers some of the most breathtaking terrain in America - majestic mountains, silent forests, sparking lakes. If you’re going to take a hike, it’s probably the place to go. And Bill Bryson is surely the most entertaing guide you’ll find. He introduces us to the history and ecology of the trail and to some of the other hardy (or just foolhardy) folks he meets along the way - and a couple of bears. Already a classic,
A Walk in the Woods will make you long for the great outdoors (or at least a comfortable chair to sit and read in).

Anyone who loves the backcountry will enjoy this.

By
Brenda
on
10-01-12

One Summer

America, 1927

By:
Bill Bryson

Narrated by:
Bill Bryson

Length: 17 hrs and 3 mins

Unabridged

Overall

3,080

Performance

2,745

Story

2,738

One of the most admired nonfiction writers of our time retells the story of one truly fabulous year in the life of his native country - a fascinating and gripping narrative featuring such outsized American heroes as Charles Lindbergh, Babe Ruth, and yes Herbert Hoover, and a gallery of criminals (Al Capone), eccentrics (Shipwreck Kelly), and close-mouthed politicians (Calvin Coolidge). It was the year Americans attempted and accomplished outsized things and came of age in a big, brawling manner. What a country. What a summer. And what a writer to bring it all so vividly alive.

Bryson is really good at what he does- a standout

By
Ethan M.
on
10-24-13

The Mother Tongue

By:
Bill Bryson

Narrated by:
Stephen McLaughlin

Length: 10 hrs and 44 mins

Unabridged

Overall

604

Performance

544

Story

545

With dazzling wit and astonishing insight, Bill Bryson - the acclaimed author of
The Lost Continent - brilliantly explores the remarkable history, eccentricities, resilience, and sheer fun of the English language. From the first descent of the larynx into the throat (why you can talk but your dog can't) to the fine lost art of swearing, Bryson tells the fascinating, often uproarious story of an inadequate, second-rate tongue of peasants that developed into one of the world's largest growth industries.

More satire than history

By
Barbara
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Shakespeare

The World as Stage

By:
Bill Bryson

Narrated by:
Bill Bryson

Length: 5 hrs and 28 mins

Unabridged

Overall

1,238

Performance

763

Story

755

William Shakespeare, the most celebrated poet in the English language, left behind nearly a million words of text, but his biography has long been a thicket of wild supposition arranged around scant facts. With a steady hand and his trademark wit, Bill Bryson sorts through this colorful muddle to reveal the man himself.

Too Little, Too Short

By
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on
11-30-07

A Short History of Nearly Everything

By:
Bill Bryson

Narrated by:
Richard Matthews

Length: 17 hrs and 48 mins

Unabridged

Overall

15,614

Performance

10,590

Story

10,557

Bill Bryson has been an enormously popular author both for his travel books and for his books on the English language. Now, this beloved comic genius turns his attention to science. Although he doesn't know anything about the subject (at first), he is eager to learn, and takes information that he gets from the world's leading experts and explains it to us in a way that makes it exciting and relevant.

Fascinating; Perfect for Adult ADHD

By
Sean
on
05-13-04

Bill Bryson Collector's Edition

Notes from a Small Island, Neither Here Nor There, and I'm a Stranger Here Myself

By:
Bill Bryson

Narrated by:
Bill Bryson

Length: 17 hrs and 14 mins

Abridged

Overall

1,490

Performance

1,088

Story

1,073

In the first of three essays included in this audiobook, Bill Bryson decides to move his wife and kids back to his homeland, the United States, after nearly two decades in Britain. But not before taking one last trip around Britain, a sort of valedictory tour of the green and kindly island that had so long been his home. The result is a hilarious social commentary.

A humorist in the Mark Twain tradition.

By
C. Montgomery
on
09-25-12

Soonish

Ten Emerging Technologies That'll Improve and/or Ruin Everything

By:
Kelly Weinersmith,
Zach Weinersmith

Narrated by:
Kelly Weinersmith,
Zach Weinersmith

Length: 10 hrs and 10 mins

Unabridged

Overall

159

Performance

144

Story

140

In this smart and funny book, celebrated cartoonist Zach Weinersmith and noted researcher Dr. Kelly Weinersmith give us a snapshot of what's coming next - from robot swarms to nuclear fusion powered-toasters. By weaving their own research and interviews with the scientists who are making these advances happen, the Weinersmiths investigate why these technologies are needed, how they would work, and what is standing in their way.

Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Future

By
Alvaro C.
on
12-09-17

Bunk

Bunk traces the history of the hoax as a peculiarly American phenomenon, examining what motivates hucksters and makes the rest of us so gullible. Disturbingly, Young finds that fakery is woven from stereotype and suspicion, race being the most insidious American hoax of all. He chronicles how Barnum came to fame by displaying figures like Joice Heth, a black woman whom he pretended was the 161-year-old nursemaid to George Washington.

Unlistenable

By
Carolinkus
on
11-28-17

Publisher's Summary

After living in Britain for two decades, Bill Bryson recently moved back to the United States with his English wife and four children (he had read somewhere that nearly 3 million Americans believed they had been abducted by aliens - as he later put it, "It was clear my people needed me"). They were greeted by a new and improved America that boasts microwave pancakes, 24-hour dental-floss hotlines, and the staunch conviction that ice is not a luxury item.

Delivering the brilliant comic musings that are a Bryson hallmark, I'm a Stranger Here Myself recounts his sometimes disconcerting reunion with the land of his birth. The result is a book filled with hysterical scenes of one man's attempt to reacquaint himself with his own country, but it is also an extended, if at times bemused, love letter to the homeland he has returned to after 20 years away.

Performance

Story

How strange! Not as recently written as described.

Bryson fans and strangers to Bryson alike may be misled as I was by the advertised description of these pieces as recent. Depends on how you define recent! Do not expect pithy observations on this century's catastrophes, elections, current TSA procedures, celebrity culture, and/or texting, tweeting, FBing. For instance, he writes with wonder of such artifacts as microwave pancakes. Brilliant and au courant not. Microwave pancakes are hardly a new invention. Having been to England myself this century I know High Street food shops and the big chains there sell them and have for years. A quibble? No. As it turns out, these pieces were written some time ago - decades ago? However, Bryson still amuses and William Roberts captures the quirky tone of Bill Bryson's ambling style well. Old Bryson is better than no Bryson.

Hilarious! Laugh out Loud

In the wake of all this fiscal cliff drama and other continual angry political stories, it was refreshing to get a different perspective all be-it-dated; many of the issues are still relevant. In addition the narrator had the perfect timing, which I can imagine was difficult for this type of book.

Seems like it was written in the late 1990's.

What did you like best about I'm a Stranger Here Myself? What did you like least?

I like Bill Bryson, but most of this material is too out of date. I gave up listening about half way through.It would be helpful if Audible included the original date of publication in their descriptions.

Bill Bryson Exposes America's Good and Bad

Yes, it is very funny, and he puts in words many of my same thoughts on topics like TV advertising and other strange things of American life.

What did you like best about this story?

His reading, his punch lines, his working in some history and facts that you likely didn't know, but now have at your fingertips because of his original way of describing them.

Which scene was your favorite?

The column on the missing Lear Jet, but a dozen or more touched me in special ways.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

No, it is easy to break apart as it is actually columns that appeared in a British paper, so each chapter stands along. Although they are all so interesting to me, I would have enjoyed listening to them all in one sitting. Others might not.

Any additional comments?

Bryson is a 5-Star author and also is a great reader of his own material. A really rare thing. I have listened to almost all his audio books. When he doesn't read them, the stand in reader sounds almost like him, which is a huge plus. These are books you can listen to over and over -- light enough on content, but there's enough that it leaves impressions on the listener and adds to the listeners feeling that they have "been along as a guest" on Bill's travels He had no peer that I know of in that category.

Yank on yank-dom.

Bill Bryson disappoints

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

I'm a Bill Bryson fan and have read or listened to many of his book. I've enjoyed them all except for this one. It's a collection of columns he wrote for a British newspaper, a former employer, after his return to the U.S. Time and again he plays his topics for easy laughs, and there are times when his tales stretch credulity — e.g., his visit to a barbershop and the debate that ensues among the barbers over which type of celebrity cut would most best flatter him. He is coasting like a standup comic on a slow night.

Dated mock outrage

This was the first audio book I haven't finished. I should have paid attention to the reviews I read, which said it was dated. It was also dull, a series of magazine columns written for a British audience, full of mock outrage about such horrors as the vapidity of US TV. There was a sweet column about how no one in New Hampshire locks their cars or houses (I wonder if that is still the case), but most of it was just tedious. I started skipping segments and finally just gave up on it.